Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan has confirmed drummer Mike Byrne is no longer part of the band.
The 24-year-old appeared on 2009’s Teargarden by Kaleidyscope at the age of 19, and then 2012 follow-up Oceania.
Corgan recently announced the launch of two albums next year, then revealed that Motley Crue’s Tommy Lee had recorded all the tracks on one of them. Now he tells Music Radar: “Let’s just say that Mike, like Elvis, has left the building. Tommy Lee is the drummer on Monuments To An Elegy.”
He hints that he felt the need for change after Oceania, saying: “It’s still about excitement, right? So what is my version of ‘excitement’ at this point in my life? I don’t think it’s that same old formula – I don’t see where people would listen to it.
“I think Oceania was in the neighbourhood of that, and I didn’t see the level of listening that I would have liked. To me, that just says, ‘Well, I’m wasting my time’ – and, by extension, somebody else’s.”
Corgan previously hailed Lee’s work, saying: “Tommy hits the drums in a crushing manner; but he has a fantastic ear for music, and plays with the songs in a manner that only enhances excitement. The only other place I’ve heard this phenomena is with John Bonham, where heavy drums can sound soft and expressive. Good company indeed!”
Both Pumpkins albums Monuments To An Elegy and Day For Night are set to be complete by the end of summer.
